The lion expert committee formed by the Supreme Court is likely to send a team to Kuno-Palpur in Madhya Pradesh to assess the sanctuary's preparedness for receiving lions from Gir, before taking a final decision on translocation of the big cats. Incidentally, a larger bench of the apex court has issued fresh notices over a petition filed by the Wildlife Trust of India challenging the shifting of the lions.

The 12-member committee was formed last year following the Supreme Court order of April 15, 2013. A division bench of the apex court had then ordered translocation of some Gir lions to Kuno Palpur and also ordered setting up of an expert committee to look into the translocation.

Later, the committee had formed a two-member expert team comprising lion experts Ravi Chellam and Yaduvendrasinh Zala. In their report submitted to the committee, the two experts had stated that 12 lions will be shifted in the first phase. However, the committee had expressed concern about the gun culture prevalent in and around the Madhya Pradesh sanctuary.

The action plan formulated with a 25-year-long translocation programme in mind, suggests that every three to five years, two-three lions - mostly male - should be shifted from Gir to Kuno to maintain the inter-linkage between lion populations in the two sanctuaries.

Sources in Delhi said the committee will be visiting Kuno to a make a firsthand assessment of the sanctuary's preparedness and also check the claims of the Madhya Pradesh government regarding the prey base and its density.

Officials said that there are claims and counter-claims within the expert panel regarding the prey base. A senior member of the committee and a lion expert had expressed doubts regarding the prey base count in the first meeting of the panel and even in court. Later, however, the same member had retracted his statement.

Officials said that some panel members were of the opinion that they should check the rehabilitation of displaced people being done by Madhya Pradesh government. The members had claimed that the local population was being rehabilitated far away from the sanctuary.